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Chapter 549: The Second Island’s Ritual Site

Leon collapsed on the ground a good distance away from the docks, sucking down air like it was going out of style as he did his damnedest to steady his racing heart. He’d fought against stone giants, snow lions, a Gorgon, and hordes of enemy mages, but only the ice wraiths and their banshees had ever terrified Leon so much as making eye contact with that kraken.

But he’d grown up with the fear of banshees and ice wraiths; as terrifying as they were to him, they were at least familiar. These things were so alien to him, so far removed from his frame of reference that he could do little more than sit on the ground and try to get a hold of himself.

He didn’t even register what was happening around him until Anzu protectively curled around Leon’s body, glaring at anyone who looked at Leon with his blood red eyes, promising only death if they tried to disturb his human. Maia was right there with Anzu, absent-mindedly running her fingers through the feathers of one of his wings, a haunted look in her eyes. The rest of Leon’s squad stood nearby, waiting with looks of varying concern for Leon and Maia to recover even as sailors and Legion engineers sprinted around them, tending to the damaged docks and ships.

As he slowly returned to the present instead of lingering on the baleful gaze of that kraken, Leon took in the extensive damage that had been inflicted upon the port. Dozens of ships had been damaged, dozens more now rested upon the sea floor. Hundreds, perhaps even thousands of sailors were killed or wounded, and they had little to show for it.

Leon contemplated being angry about it, perhaps seeking to lay the blame for this at the feet of the Fleet Legates, who should’ve had their fleets be more ready to face such threats, but after seeing just what was below the waves, Leon couldn’t bring himself to muster the energy. Three enormous krakens, each possessing sixth-tier magical strength and enough physical power to tears entire war galleys asunder, had accompanied the pirates.

For some reason.

‘Great,’ Leon thought, his heart sinking as he started to wrap his mind around the magnitude of this problem. ‘Three seventh-tier mages. Flame Lances. A ship with those flame-throwing things that can heavily damage some of our strongest ships. And now three damned krakens!’

Leon hadn’t an earthly clue as to how to deal with this problem, but deal with it he knew he had to. The scale of this problem was proving itself to be too large to ever consider ignoring. Already, he’d been determined to find Jormun and bring him to justice out of embarrassment for so completely fooling him in Kraterok and out of a sense of lingering obligation to see Trajan’s killers brought back to see a Bull Kingdom headsman, but now…

Now, he saw the powers that Jormun commanded. He had some vague, cryptic hints as to what the pirate was planning to do, and if the krakens and the crucified person he’d found out in the jungle was any indication, then Jormun was at least into some dark shit. He was showing what he was using his powers for.

And that sarcastic salute as he was carried away by krakens just made everything so much worse. It was like he was saying that no matter how powerful Leon or his people were, they couldn’t stop him or his plans.

Leon only wanted to stop him all the more, now, and not just for the disrespect and personal grudge Leon had been left with. He couldn’t look the other way on this. One fleet had already been ruined by the pirate, and judging by the losses they’d taken so far, Leon could easily see the Bull Kingdom losing these three in the task force in this venture as well. Any faith Leon had that the Bull Kingdom had the ability to stop Jormun was on its last legs.

For now, though, there wasn’t much that Leon could do. He pulsed his magic senses to check on the situation outside the walls of the fortress and saw at least half a dozen companies of marines sweeping through the hinterlands immediately around the site of the former town. None of them seemed to be fighting, so it was clear enough to him that the people who’d shot at his squad as they returned seemed to have bugged out.

With a heavy sigh that finally started to calm him down, Leon got to his feet. His movement shook Anzu out of his hyper-protective stance and bring Maia back to reality.

Leon looked over to his river nymph lover and saw the lingering terror of the krakens within himself reflected back at him.

[How are you?] he asked her.

[Well enough,] she replied. [Maybe talk later? Not now…]

[Later then,] Leon agreed, and the two shared a brief smile before turning to face the rest of the squad who’d hesitantly approached.

“Everything… all right?” Alix asked, undoubtedly giving voice to the question on all of their minds.

Leon looked around at them and nodded. “Yeah… Let’s head back and meet with the Legates. We’ve clearly got some work ahead of ourselves…”

—

The meeting with the Fleet Legates was tense, and more than a few heated exchanges were had. In the end, though, Leon had been comforted when Basina made it abundantly clear that they had gotten too lax and complacent in the half century since the Bull Kingdom’s last true need for a fleet. While some elements of the fleets moved to secure the rest of the settlements on the island, she would be running the rest of the fleets ragged doing drills and running scouting missions to ensure that such an ambush couldn’t happen again.

Leon, while not happy with that answer, supposed that he wouldn’t be entirely happy with any answer they could give him, and decided to just drop the subject after Basina said that. The results she would show would have to speak for themselves. He knew less than nothing about fleet management and he had no official ranks to speak of, so there was nothing at all he could possibly do for the fleets except trust that Basina, Theuderic, and Sigebert had it in hand.

But just because there wasn’t much he could do for the fleets, that didn’t mean that there wasn’t anything at all he could be doing. With the Fleet Legates taking responsibility for putting together some kind of response to Jormun’s raid, Leon turned his attention back to the crucified corpse he’d found—or rather, been led to—only a few hours before.

It was still there, its head turned to the side, its left hand pointing off into the darkness. After the encounter with the Krakens, however, much of the visceral horror of the scene now looked kind of tame in comparison.

“Krakens… crucifixions… stealing Princes… what in the hells is going on?” Marcus wondered aloud as the company of marines that accompanied them started to swear in shock and horror.

Leon thought back to the story Jormun had told him in Kraterok of the eponymous Serpent that lay imprisoned beneath the Serpentine Isles, and replied, “Our pirate friend seems to be messing with forces beyond human ken. Perhaps he needs the Prince’s blood for something. Wouldn’t surprise me, to be honest…”

Leon made a mental note to himself to discuss with the Thunderbird what exactly Jormun might be trying to do. He felt like such an ancient and venerable being as her ought to have at least some insight into these matters. Perhaps Xaphan did, as well, being a demon and all that.

[Hey, Xaphan,] Leon whispered to his demonic partner.

[What is it?] Xaphan replied, sounding just a little bit irritated, as if Leon were distracting him from something.

[I’ve got something I need your opinion on, I was hoping you could pay attention for a little while…]

Leon felt Xaphan’s magic senses pulse out through his body, taking in their surroundings.

[Ah, cute. You do this yourself, Leon? I didn’t think you had it in you to be so creative…]

[No, I didn’t fucking do this, demon,] Leon retorted, feeling vaguely insulted even though he knew the demon wasn’t being the least bit serious. [I just want you to see what you can see. I have limited experience dealing with things that can’t be solved by a good stabbing or a liberal application of lightning, and I was hoping you might be able to fill in some gaps for me…]

[I’ll do what I can, but that corpse, at least, doesn’t look like much other than some try-hard’s attempt at edgy art.]

Leon smiled, Xaphan’s flippant description helping to put things into perspective. It didn’t matter what Jormun was doing, the forces Leon had on his side were far more terrifying.

Or so Leon told himself, but the memory of that kraken’s eye sent a shiver down his spine despite the sentiment.

“All right,” Leon said out loud. “It doesn’t look like anything’s changed. If no one can see anything new, then let’s see what this guy’s pointing us toward…”

“A trap, most like,” Alix whispered.

“Maybe,” Leon conceded, “and I wouldn’t be surprised given what we saw today. An ambush out in the jungle after a lightning raid on the port. Those people who shot at us earlier are still out here, so keep an eye out for anything at all that might be suspicious…”

There wasn’t much that proved that the people in the magic-senses-resistant cloaks were on Jormun’s side, but there wasn’t much to disprove it, either. That they had started to encroach on the fortress walls while Jormun was attacking the port was too big of a coincidence, and the fact that they never committed to a proper assault didn’t detract from that. Even if they weren’t on the same side, they still used the pirate’s attack as a cover to get in close to the walls without being detected and attempted to harm Leon and his squad. Whoever they were, they were no friends of Leon’s, and they hadn’t been caught by the Legion patrols.

Leon, without any noticeable fear or hesitation, started walking deeper into the jungle, following the direction that the corpse was pointing in. His squad followed close behind and the marine company just behind them. They numbered a little over a hundred, and while a tough unit all on its own, every step they took left them farther away from the fortress and potential reinforcements. The Legion fleets heading up and down the island’s coast would hopefully provide enough distraction for anyone in the jungle who might wish them harm, pulling them back to their homes instead of waiting for an ambush, but Leon kept all of his senses sharp for anything of note. Knowing an enemy was out there with the capability of fooling magic senses was enough on its own to keep him from getting too relaxed, let alone the possibility that any of Jormun’s seventh-tier mages might be about.

For a while, Leon’s head was on a swivel, his eyes darting from hither to yon in search of any sign that they were being stalked or that there might be Islanders out in the jungle waiting to ambush them. His magic senses remained projected, too, and he kept an eye on all the dangerous fauna that prowled the humid jungle just in case they got too close.

Most of all, however, Leon was looking for the Thunderbird look-a-like that had led him to the first corpse. It flown away in the same direction that the corpse had pointed in, so Leon had assumed that the bird had been trying to lead him to whatever the corpse was trying to point him towards. Instead of following, however, Leon had returned to the fortress to provide what little aid he could in its defense, so he didn’t know if the bird was still out there or if it had left when it realized he wasn’t following it.

His worries were put to rest when he heard the sound of beating wings, and a moment later saw the bird alighting upon a nearby tree branch for a moment, lock eyes with him, and the turn and fly away into the jungle.

“There…” Leon muttered, and he made to follow the bird deeper into the jungle.

“Huh? See something?” Alix asked from just behind him.

“Yeah,” Leon said, his focus shifting from the jungle around them to fixing on the bird as it flew away, “you see that bird?”

“What bird?” Alix replied.

Leon was hardly fazed, there were birds all around them, though most weren’t making too much noise given how late it was, so he wasn’t too surprised that Alix hadn’t been paying too much attention to a single, if fairly large, eagle-like bird.

“It went this way…” Leon said, his eyes narrowing as the bird stopped about a thousand feet away, seemingly hovering in the air as it perched on something he couldn’t see.

“Leon, what are you talk…ing…” Alix said as she took off after Leon as he tore into the jungle. For him, it was heedless and almost without thought, and she could see that in his suddenly-changed demeanor, but his skills in the forest, while not necessarily directly translatable to the jungle, still ensured that he moved almost silently and with great speed. Anzu and Maia quickly blew past Alix, not even sparing her a glance as they followed Leon deeper into the jungle.

Leon, however, wasn’t entirely heedless as he followed the bird. With his magic senses, he kept an eye on everyone behind him, making sure they followed him and weren’t being attacked as they fell a little bit behind. He also made sure to move slowly enough so as to not lose them, but he also didn’t want to fall too far behind the bird. If was reading its emotions correctly, it seemed to be glaring at him for not having followed it earlier.

Soon enough, Leon burst out into another clearing, where a second crucified corpse had been left, this one still with a little bit of blood on its bones making for a much grislier sight.

Leon paused not too far away and watched as the bird took off again, flying away into the trees. Leon had to fight the urge to instantly follow it, but he made sure to pause long enough for everyone else to catch up.

“Another one, huh?” Gaius observed as he stepped out into the clearing. “I guess it was too much to hope that there was only going to be one. Who do you think this is?”

“I’d be willing to bet quite a bit of money that this is one of the missing townspeople,” Alcander stated. “It’s kind of weird how decayed it is, and yet how intact it is, though. This person couldn’t have been here for very long, especially not bloody.”

“I agree,” Marcus added. “It’s hard to believe that scavengers haven’t carried off some of these bones, and yet they’re all still here. Seems like a lot of effort to put into this. Someone wanted these bodies found and their directions followed…”

The nobleman gave Leon a pointed look that bordered on reproachful, and Leon at least had the good graces to look a bit embarrassed.

“Ah, you’re right, I shouldn’t be running ahead like that,” Leon said contritely. “I got a little bit ahead of myself. Still, this is leading us to something. I’m sure there’s more bodies to be found out there…”

There were thousands of people who lived in the town where the fortress now stood. That meant potentially thousands of bodies, assuming Alcander’s belief was correct and these crucified people were the townspeople.

But there was only one way to find out. Leon carefully approached the body tied to the wooden star, his caution high again. He didn’t want to accidentally spring any traps like he’d done on the way into the town that afternoon. That would’ve been a truly terrible way for him to end after all that he’d been through.

Fortunately, there were no traps that he could yet see, and the bloody skeleton was soon turning its head to its right as the fingers on its right hand curled, leaving on one extended finger pointing into the jungle in the same direction that the bird had flown in.

Leon had to catch himself from just running off again. Marcus was right, he needed to take things slower, even if the bird seemed to be in a hurry. It had led him this far, so surely it must understand the concept of caution.

Leon took a few minutes to had the marines accompanying them send back a quick report to the Legates and then spread out a little bit more. Leon then led the way deeper into the jungle, though at a much less breakneck speed than before, making sure that he stayed with the group and didn’t outpace them again.

Like that, following both the bird and the pointing skeletons, Leon’s group found no less than half a dozen more skeletons, all leading them deeper and deeper into the untamed jungles of the island.

Not once were they attacked by any Islanders or pirates. Once, a large jungle cat got in their way for a few seconds, and its sixth-tier strength was certainly something to be impressed by, but all it required was a brief hit of Leon’s killing intent for it to turn right around and not bother them again. Their miles-long trek into the depths of the jungle was remarkably peaceful.

Finally, only about an hour or so before dawn, they finally reached what it seemed like they were being led toward. The final bloody skeleton—this one with all the flesh of its pointing arm still attached to the bone, though having started to rot and stink—pointed them toward a half-buried stone ruin so consumed by the jungle that it wasn’t until they drew closer that Leon realized what it was.

This ruin was old. Moss covered most of the stone and jungle ferns and trees grew amongst the paths between the foundations of the large buildings, though these buildings had been long collapsed into indistinct piles of rubble.

The entire place seemed to be some kind of palace or temple complex, with a large square courtyard in the center, surrounded by a wall and buildings on all sides, which was in turn flanked by a square street which then led to a second square wall of buildings. In the center of the stone courtyard, terribly weathered and half devoured by the branches of a nearby jungle tree, was an immense serpentine colossus. Its body was perhaps a hundred feet long, coiled up, and about as thick as Leon was tall. Any other notable features had long been weathered away, but the statue was the only thing that drew anyone’s attention as soon as they laid their eyes upon the ruin.

All along the serpent’s body, and crucified throughout the large courtyard, were hundreds of bodies. These weren’t absent their flesh like most of the previous corpses, either; no, these bodies looked like they had been nailed to the stone and the wood while they were still alive and perfectly healthy, then left to die and rot.

Leon could only stop and stare at this scene, walking forward only until he came to the pathetic shin-high walls of the closest ruined building, and took in as best as he could this scene of mass terror and death. All around him, his squad and the marines that had escorted them did likewise, though many of them swore in horror. Leon was vaguely aware that a few even ducked back into the jungle to vomit into the bushes.

Men, women, children, the old, he could see bodies of all kinds left in the courtyard.

“Stay… stay back…” he called out, noticing that a few of the marines had started walking forward, probably with the intent to start cutting the bodies down. “All of this… may be trapped,” he explained when curious eyes were turned in his direction. “Let’s just take this slow.”

Leon couldn’t sense anything overtly magical about the place, other than the simple fact that the same enchantments that blocked his magic senses from seeing the other bodies were present here, hiding all of this torturous carnage until it could be physically seen. But just because he couldn’t sense anything didn’t mean that there weren’t any traps around.

After a few more seconds, Leon started getting his head back into the game. He got the marines moving to secure the area, surrounding this ruined temple or whatever it was, making sure that there were no potential enemies laying in wai